Washington -- If Congress approves the White House's new spending plan, Northeast Ohio could see more cops on the beat, more traffic cones for road construction, and nearly steady employment at NASA's Glenn Research Center.

The Great Lakes cleanup would continue, a prospect drawing cheers from the effort's broad constituency on Monday.

But the outlook for the region would not be entirely rosy, a review of detailed budget information shows. Public housing developments would be squeezed for money to cover rents. Low-income households, sure to be joined by lawmakers from cold-weather states, would plead for more federal heating-assistance money.

And University Hospitals, the Cleveland Clinic and others in Cleveland's medical research community might share the burden of flat federal research spending, and of future cuts for hospitals that now get extra federal money for training medical students. President Barack Obama's administration and other budget cutters say they get too much.

Elyria-based Invacare, a major medical equipment provider, would take a hit, too.

None of this might happen, however.

Obama, a Democrat, is facing reelection, and Republicans say his 2013 budget relies on spending-cut gimmicks that do too little to actually cut the nation's debt, leaving a drag on the economy.

"One of the most troubling aspects of the President's budget is his own prediction of higher unemployment in the next two years under his policies," said Ohio Republican U.S. Sen. Rob Portman. "The President's budget predicts unemployment rates of 8.9 percent in 2012 and 8.6 percent in 2013. That's unacceptable, and a testament to the fact that Washington can't continue to rely on short-term sweeteners and spending gimmicks to grow our economy and get the country out of its fiscal mess."

The White House counters that it needs to balance pro-growth initiatives with strategic cuts so as not to slow the economic recovery.

With the likelihood of passage dim, here are a few of the proposed budget's winners and losers in Northeast Ohio:

The Glenn Research Center: GRC would get $658 million, a $17 million increase over 2012. Center Director Ray Lugo said about $60 million would go to upgrade underground utilities at the facility's campus on Brook Park Road in Cleveland and replace electrical and mechanical systems at its Plum Brook test facility.

He said the budget would provide "stability," and might result in a reduction of 14 of the center's 1,650 civil service jobs, achieved through attrition. Lugo said the facility's aeronautics and science budgets were slightly reduced. The figures are all preliminary and could change when the budget is finalized, he noted.

The Great Lakes: The budget would provide $300 million for the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative, the same amount as 2012.

Public housing: Current tenants in low-income housing should see no change, whether they use vouchers to pay for private apartments and homes or live in a public housing development. In fact, the White House wants to expand the private-market program with more vouchers for homeless veterans.

But it also wants to cut subsidies to public housing developments by $640 million. The Department of Housing and Urban Development says it can do that by capping the rents it pays to agencies that own the properties. Public housing agencies in Cleveland, Akron and Lorain could feel the squeeze.

Cops: Obama would expand the Community Oriented Police Services program from $183 million this year to $290 million in fiscal 2013, according to Sen. Sherrod Brown's office. Among other things, the money could help cash-strapped cities hire and retain officers.

Money for fire and safety grants would remain at current levels, according to the Ohio Democrat.

Heating assistance: Obama's budget would provide $3 billion for the Low Income Heating Asssistance Program, $450 million below what Congress just approved for 2012, according to Brown's office.

Medical programs: Obama wants to get more medical research with the same amount of money the government already spends. To do that, the National Institutes of Health would stop providing money to cover inflation in the later years of multi-year grants, and it would negotiate new competing grants to keep the average award from growing, according to the Department of Health and Human Services.

Obama also would extend Medicare's competitive bidding program for wheelchairs and other medical equipment to bring down prices in the federal-state Medicaid program. Invacare, a leader in the movement to rescind or revamp competitive bidding, is certain to be at the forefront of efforts to block the newest initiative.

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